This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
The disclosure relates to a filling adapter for a container to be filled with media (e.g. oils, gases, coolants and the like), in particular for the initial filling of containers with operating substances on assembly lines for the production of motor vehicles, wherein the filling adapter is equipped with a hose pack, electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic lines.
Containers must be filled with liquids or gases for numerous technical applications. A typical application in this respect are motor vehicles where housings, circuits, equalizing reservoirs and the like have to be filled with fuel, lubricants, coolants, and other operating substances. In the manufacturing process, these vehicles must be filled, for example, with brake fluid, power steering fluid, coolant, refrigerant, windshield wiper fluid, and fuel. These media are fed via hoses and special adapters to the respective circuits of the vehicles. The hoses typically include multiple lines with different functions for vacuum application, back suction, filling, aerating, as well as for electrical cables.
To perform the filling, a worker has to bring the adapter and hose pack to the vehicle depending on the respective position of the filling station and connect it to the ports of the circuits to be filled.
The filling adapters are equipped with valves to open or close media lines in the various process steps. Valves primarily used for this purpose include so-called gamma or pinch valves, seat valves, or coaxial valves. The coaxial valves mentioned last here are particularly well suited for use in filling adapters because they have the following advantageous properties compared to other valve designs:                compact size, but a large cross section        dirt resistant and long-lasting        fast opening and closing times        no pressure differential required        resistant to back pressure and capable of both directions of flow        the pressures to be switched have no influence on the valve, and the valve therefore cannot inadvertently be pushed open        
In the coaxial valves common in prior art, a piston presses the head tube onto the seat valve using compressed air when the valve is closed. As a result, the head tube is closed by said seat valve, and the medium is blocked. When the compressed air is switched to the other pressure chamber of the piston, the head tube is moved away from the seat valve, so that the flow is released.
Despite the functional advantages compared to other valve designs, some problems occur when using the coaxial valves known from prior art for filling adapters. For example, the media line must be rerouted several times around the seat valve to maintain the axial direction of flow. This is an unfavorable flow design. The required rerouting inevitable makes the valve bigger and the design more complex and costly.